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Monday, March 22, 2010

IMBC + math

IMBC + math

So far I've experimented with 3 different IMBC recipes:
  1. from Cooking by James Peterson
  2. from Warren Brown of Cake Love
  3. "Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream" from cakecentral.com
I liked the taste of #1.  I liked the stability of #2.  #3 was in between for both characteristics, but had a very yellow color to it.  I was curious to see how all 3 could be so different when they use the same ingredients.

Here's a breakdown of egg whites, sugar, water, and butter for each recipe:

Ingredient#1: Cooking#2: Cake Love#3: Cakecentral
egg whites658
sugar (cups)1.751.251.583
water (cups)0.50.250.5
butter (sticks)346

If you determine the ratios on a per egg white basis, here's the run-down:

Ingredient#1: Cooking#2: Cake Love#3: Cakecentral
egg whites111
sugar (cups)0.2916666670.250.197875
water (cups)0.0833333330.050.0625
butter (sticks)0.50.80.75

So no wonder I like #1, it's the most sugar and least butter.  #2 is the most stable, probably because of all the butter.  #3 is a lot more butter than anything else, and maybe that explains the color.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting. I've only ever made SMBC which I understand is very similar. Given your findings, which IMBC would you recommend?

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  2. I think I'm going to stick with the Cake Love recipe for now. It has convenient proportions and great stability. I'm looking forward to experimenting with how much of additional flavoring that recipe can hold.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm also interested in trying SMBC and Mousseline BC. IMBC caught my eye at first because people mentioned that it stands up to weather better than SMBC. Texas weather can be kinda crazy.

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  4. To me the Mousseline tastes too eggy because it uses yolks, not whites, if I remember correctly. I assume you're talking about the Cake Bible recipe.

    ReplyDelete

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